🕵🏻BOOK REVIEW🕵🏻

What Have We Done - Alex Finlay
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

“In one of the year's most anticipated thrillers #1 New York Times bestseller Sarah Pekkanen calls ‘Alex Finlay's best yet,’ What Have We Done is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever.”

This was my first Alex Finley novel and I really enjoyed it! I loved the weaving together of the past traumas and current situations. It did get a bit of a slow start - just because there is background needed - but I felt it picked up quickly. Each of the characters were flawed but likable

What I thought was going to be a twisty thriller about girls going missing from a group home, turned out to have so much more below the surface! I started out switching between the audio and physical books but enjoyed the audio and narration so much that I only did the audio after the first few chapters.

It was narrated by Brittany Pressley; James Patrick Cronin; Jon Lindstrom; Maggie Thompson - they all did an exceptional job and brought a lot to both the story and the personality of the characters.

Recommend if you like:
- Dual POV (especially with a multi-cast audiobook narration)
- Twisty thrillers
- Suspended belief
- Female assassins
- Thrillers that could be action movies

Thanks to @netgalley, @macmillan.audio, @stmartinspress and the author for copies of this ARC.

This book was fast paced and intriguing all the way. Never missing a beat which I loved. I really liked all the different POVs and never lost track of who was who. Wish there was some more character development so we could feel closer to them. I really liked how everything was wrapped up in the end. Nothing felt rushed or not believable. I’m excited to keep reading more books from Alex Finlay! Every book has been great, exciting and fun to read for me. Thank you NetGalley, Alex Finlay and Minotaur Books for this ARC!

What Have We Done?
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That’s a great question, don’t ask me, I’m still not sure 🤣🤣🤣
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The synopsis of this book sounds so good, and I’ve enjoyed Finlay’s books in the past. Unfortunately, I could not suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy this. Lots of characters, lots of chaos. An ex-assassin stay at home mom? Folks surviving mine explosions and falls from cruise ships? Psychopathic twins? Even more assassins? No sir. You’re doing too much.
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The reveal wasn’t shocking due to a simple process of elimination, and I thought the epilogue was totally unnecessary. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Can’t recommend this one, but I do like the author enough to read his next book!
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Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the e-arc!

This book gets three stars from me (bumped up because I read it pretty quickly), but definitely wasn’t a favourite. The synopsis drew me in but then I realized it was a bait and switch, as the description didn’t parallel the story at all (so misleading!)

So, the assassin(s) were so bad at assassinating that they left two of the three marks alive? And that wasn’t a big deal to anyone? I kept expecting it to be a plot point (as in, the victims were only meant to be scared instead of killed), but nope. I guess they were just having a bad day at the office.

I knew who the kids thought was the bad guy adult wasn’t; and I knew who ended up being the bad guy adult was. No big shock there. But…did I miss what happened to the real bad guy adult?

I didn’t mind the characters, but I did mind the trick that got me to read this book in the first place. Assassins / spies aren’t my jam so, if I had known that I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book.

This book was fast paced and a quick read, but something just fell a little flat for me. I was confused for a good majority of the first chunk of the book and couldn’t really connect or figure out any of the characters. It is definitely action packed and a quick read, so give this a try for a bingeable thriller.

I absolutely loved Finlay's last book The Night Shift so I was so excited to read this one! Sadly, I just didn't connect with this one. I think this was a case of me and not the book? There were so many characters and so much going on that I had trouble keeping up. I wished for more background on them and more explanation of who they were and how they got to where they were.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars

This book is very fast paced so I managed to get through it pretty quickly. However, for me, the ending was sort of predictable and overdone. It seemed like the most obvious answer and just felt kind of meh.

On the brightside, the premise is very interesting and I enjoyed the way it weaved together the current story with the characters' past actions. It was an interesting way to convey why the characters were being targeted the way they were.

Overall, it is a pretty quick and easy read, however if you are a major thriller/mystery fan, this may not be for you as the ending is fairly common across the thriller genre.

I’m a big fan of Alex Finlay, and was so excited to read this. It ended up being different than prior novels, but I still really enjoyed it. I loved the different POVs and the characters were fairly likable. Some parts were a little far fetched, but I didn’t see the ending coming at all. I recommend this one to anyone who likes an easy read with a good twist.

WOW. This is my first Alex Finlay book and I will not be the last!! It was so fast paced right from the start, and I could not put the book down for the life of me.

We follow three friends who were connected by their past at the Savior House, which was a group home for parentless teens. Some shady stuff happened back then, and now years later, it looks like someone is hunting down each of them one by one. But why?! And why now?? You find out eventually with their alternating POVs and their trip down memory lane as well.

Let me tell you- even when you THINK you know what’s going to happen, the surprises come out and knock you on your ass. I had to pause several times near the end because I was so stressed and just wanted the best for these people!!

I can’t wait to read more from Alex Finlay

I’m officially an Alex Finlay fan now. I really enjoyed this one and the way it was written. I was hooked from the beginning wondering WHAT DID THEY DO?! We know the group is connected and they’ve done something, but what?! I was hooked and I had to keep turning the pages to find out more.

Looking for a book with multiple povs and a super twisty ending? Consider:
Kids at a Group Home - 5 Kids that live at a group home have a secret
Mysterious Disappearances - girls are disappearing, and they decide to take matters into their own hands
25 years later - 25 years later, they are being hunted, so they must come back together to find out who might be responsible
What did they do? - but the real question is What Did they do?

This book is a fast read. One of my most anticipated books of the year, and I was not disappointed. Like I mentioned before, the publisher sent me this necklace with the book, and I was very excited to see how it connected to the plot. The book also came with a message from one of the main characters. Once I got to the end of the book, I was kinda of taken aback. I felt like I didn’t connect to the characters as much as I expected and that probably was the biggest issue for me. But it was a quick read and very exciting.

What I liked: very short chapters. That’s my favorite. Only 3 characters to keep up with (mainly). Donnie (a washed up singer), Nico (works on a fake reality tv show called “The Miners”) and Jenna (a stay at home ex-assassin). They were pretty different but I still found myself confusing Donnie and Nico occasionally.

The eh: the story started out with a bang (literally). Lots of action (or attempted murder) for all 3 characters. Then things simmer down. It seems like we’re working our way through character building and some travel for the characters but about 60% of the way I was craving some more action and hoping we find out who the real bad guy is.

Fast forward to the end, I definitely didn’t see the ending coming and appreciated the twists and turns. This book gave me action movie vibes rather than thriller (even though it has plenty of aspects that scream thriller). Overall, quick read that kept me very invested thanks to short chapters and interesting characters and a good plot twist.

The beginning of the audio is a bit confusing with the pace of multiple POV as well as the timeline changes.

They’re a lot of different charavters to keep track of which for an audiobook can be difficult and I felt that way.

However the story and plot I thought was really interesting. I really liked the character Jenna and her storyline. I think I would have liked hearing more from this character.

Overall I would say to pick up the physical book before the audio.

Another Alex Finlay winner! Good pacing, a fun story to read. It kept me engaged. I love watching Finlay's writing evolve.

I was so excited to read Alex Finlay's latest novel after being a huge fan of The Night Shift, however I had trouble getting started with this one. The multiple narrators and drop into the middle of the action beginning took me aback. While I found the action exciting and overall story compelling, it took me a while to get into. Once I did, I was glad I finished and found it to be a quick and thrilling read. It lacked the depth of character I felt with Finaly's previous work, but overall still well written and a solid mystery.

This was so much different than other Alex Finlay's novels! They haven't spoken in years but a group of friends who met long ago at Savior House are bonded for life. The Savior House is a home for teens without parents. Donnie, Nico and Jenna are now living very different lives. They know a terrible secret from 25 years ago, and the past is creeping up on them. How did their secret get out? Who is coming for them?
Character development is kinda flat in this novel but the twisty punches keep on coming! Entertainment value is great. Love the short chapters. Its a book worth reading for a quick, fun and wild ride. 3.5 stars.

I had such freaking HIGH HOPES for this book. I absolutely loved + devoured + recommended Finlay's book The Night Shift last year, so I just knew this was going to be a gem. It started out SO strong for me. I was hooked instantly.

You've got multiple POVs - Jenna, Donnie, and Nico. One is a stay at home mom with a past, one is a has been rockstar, and one a reality TV producer. Jenna's storyline was by far my favorite of these. You also get an extra POV thrown in there every now and then - the twins. I liked the twins. And I wasn't supposed to, but I felt like they had some comedy + just straight up sinisterness to this book.

Now, here's the thing with multiple POVs and different story lines it's natural for things to get confusing, but HOLY MOLY they got confusing. It took away from all the good that was happening for me. I began to get bored and it made any shock factor that may have been non-existant.

One thing I did love was the setting. I feel like the setting of a group home with foster kids was more unique for a book like this. Although it was kind of a let down for me, I do think this was still a fun read. It is ACTION packed the entire time (even if I was confused 🙃) and it was an incredibly quick read with short chapters, which is always fun!

Thank you so much @minotaur_books for my #gifted ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

What Have We Done is the latest thriller from Alex Finlay. This was my first time reading anything from this author and I have to say it was a pretty wild ride!

This twisty story follows five seemingly different characters who on the surface have little in common – Ben is a federal judge, Donnie is a mostly washed-up rock star, Nico is a television producer, Jenna is a former assassin turned housewife, and Artemis is a wealthy entrepreneur. What these five do have in common is that 25 years ago, they all lived at Savior House, a group home for orphaned teens. While Savior House was meant to be a safe place for these teens, instead it was an environment of abuse and neglect and also a place where several teen girls that lived there mysteriously disappeared. The home is eventually shut down and the teens all eventually go on to lead successful lives, although they all still have painful memories from their time at Savior House, as well as a deadly secret.

When one of them is killed, and attempts are made on the lives of the other four, it leads the now-grown Savior House kids to have a reunion they never expected to have. It surely isn’t a coincidence that all of them have been targeted and they need to get to the bottom of who is after them after all these years and why.

I love a good twisty thriller so I really enjoyed how this novel was structured. The story unfolds primarily from the perspectives of Jenna, Nico, and Donnie, who were best friends while at Savior House. We follow each of them from the moment the attempt is made on their lives and get their perspective on everything as they try to piece together what is going on, first solo, and then as a team once they finally meet up. The story also alternates between past and present so that in addition to following these characters as they try to figure out who is after them, we also get flashbacks to when they were teens and therefore get a bird’s eye view of all of the horrors that took place at Savior House.

While I really enjoyed the story overall, I did have a couple of issues as I was reading, the first being that I didn’t particularly like any of the characters. I was definitely sympathetic to what they were going through and how terrifying it must have been, but that was the end of my connection to any of them. I also found myself preferring some of the perspectives over others, Jenna’s was much more interesting than the others so I found myself skimming through their chapters to hurry up and get back to hers. Overall, I enjoyed all three perspectives, but this did make for an uneven read for me. The skeptic in me also found all of their career choices to be somewhat farfetched – entertaining yes, believable not really.

Even with those few issues, I would still say I enjoyed my first Alex Finlay novel. I liked the suspenseful build up to the reveal and that the closer we got to the reveal, the wilder the ride became, and I definitely loved that the story kept me guessing until the final pages. If you like twisty reads filled with dark secrets from the past, you’ll want to check out What Have We Done.

This book kept my attention and intrigued. There were quite a few twists towards the end. I’d recommend this book to thriller/mystery fans.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of What Have We Done by Alex Finlay. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

What Have We Done is my new favorite book written by Alex Finlay. I loved the weaving of the multiple POVs to create a strong suspense story that had me hooked to the last page. While the idea that all of these children that were in the system because super successful and famous was a bit unbelievable, it still was highly entertaining. I give this book 5/5 stars and highly recommend it.